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Sunday, November 16, 2008

WAQ, and a Quiet Weekend

Our WAQ group met on Friday, and learned several ways to construct a pictorial quilt. I did Sharon Schamber's Piecelique, Suzanne did her take on Katie Pasquini's method, and Robyn did Ruth McDowell. It was interesting comparing the various methods- by the end, we agreed that which method you use is dependent on the effect you want to achieve. And, like anything, each has their upside and downside. But it did inspire me to develop a table comparing the methods, the tools needed, and the resources available to learn each. I'm also adding some we didn't discuss- Judy Dales' method of curved piecing, and Barbara Olsen's 'air applique.' I figure it can be a quick way to compare methods when I'm trying to determine how to move from the idea to fiber reality.

Remember this piece?

Ignore all the periphery- my design wall is packed, and this quilt is large enough that it's hard to get a picture without the distractions.

The tree and quilt are now one- I free motioned the tree on yesterday morning. Cumbersome, but not as bad as I thought it would be. I have a nonwoven stabilizer on the back- don't think the quilt would have held up under the weight of the tree without it. Two steps left, make a lot of leaves (some double sided), and quilt the piece. Some of the leaves will go on before I quilt, but a lot will be applied afterwards- I'm going for a 3D effect. I'm going to try to quilt lines that look like wind- I've done some drawings, and think I can pull that off.

I won't be getting to it until next weekend, however- I'm in Salt Lake Monday and Tuesday for work, the large surface design group meets Wednesday night. And, I'm anxiously awaiting two parcels- one from Amazon with Katie Pasquini's new design book, and another from Dharma, which is mostly scarves,T-shirts, and yarn. I'm hoping to dye some gifts for Christmas, and get a knitting project underway. So I'm sure the books will prove a distraction for a bit!

7 comments:

The tree is made from Warm and Natural batting, that I painted with Dye-na-Flow and probably some Setacolors. I also added painted Wonder Under, hand dyed cheesecloth, and lots of stitching. I blogged about when I was making it, but it's been so long, I'm not sure when!

maybe if you submit to an AQS show I'll get to see it in person...Paducah or Knoxville...thanks for describing the construction of the tree...i might have read about in your previous posts but i've blinked since then :)

About Me

I've had a needle in my hand as long as I can remember. After thinking for years that my brother got all the artistic genes in our family, I'm discovering the joys of creating my own fabric with dyes, paints, and about anything else one can use to color on fabric. My fiber art truly is the therapy that sees me though my day job as a clinical social worker.